


Rock Lee VS The World

by Raggamaninof



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-07
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-04-13 10:14:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4517991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raggamaninof/pseuds/Raggamaninof
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rock Lee starts dating a high schooler. Yes, a high schooler. Everyone seems to think it's a bad idea, but what happens when a gorgeous mysterious redhead moves into town?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! So I was thinking about how much I would really like to see a Scott Pilgrim AU for LeeGaa and I was like, you know what, I'm doing it myself. Most of the dialogue are taken directly from the movie but I switched some things around to fit the Naruto universe as well as to try and keep them in character. This was kind of hard because I had to try and keep them in character but I didn't want Gaara to be a serial killer with a horrible traumatizing childhood so trying to balance those things out... well, it'll be interesting. I hope you guys enjoy, please message me with any questions or comments about it!
> 
> I do not own Naruto or Scott Pilgrim VS the World, and therefore none of the characters in them.

Not so long ago…

In the mysterious land…

Of Toronto, Canada…

 

Rock Lee was dating a high schooler.

 

“Rock Lee is dating a high schooler.” Tenten asked, her voice monotone and annoyed as she sat at the kitchen table, arms crossed.

“Really?” Neji asked, “Is she hot?” 

“How old are you now, Lee, like 28?” Tenten retorted,

“I’m not playing your little games, Tenten…” Lee said quickly, pouring himself some coffee, his back turned towards his three friends at the table.

“So you’ve been out of highschool for like… thirteen years…” Tenten continued,

“I’m twenty two!” Lee said quickly, turning around to face his friends, “Twenty two.” He stated again, reassuring them with a small smile. 

“So you’re dating a high school girl…” Neji said as Lee sat down in front of him, “Not bad, not bad,” 

“Thank you! Thank you,” Lee said with a smug smile, looking pretty proud of himself. Sai, who was sitting on the right of Lee, looked up from his drawing pad, eyes curious.

“So did you guys like… you know…” Sai whispered, looking around as if someone might hear him, “do it?”

Lee raised his eyebrows and then smiled,

“We have done many things; we ride the bus together, we have meaningful conversations about how yearbook club went and about her friends, and uh… you know, drama.” Lee said casually, trying to look as cool as he could talking about high school. Neji bit into his toast, nodding to Lee’s words with false interest.

“Have you even kissed her?” he asked,

“We held hands once but then she got embarrassed.” Lee said with a small smile, remembering the moment with fondness. Tenten stared at him in disbelief,

“Well aren’t you pleased as punch.” She stated coldly.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Lee said quickly, drinking his coffee. 

“So what’s her name?” Neji asked, curious this time. Lee looked up from his coffee,

“Yamanaka Ino,” Lee said with a smile, “She’s Japanese.” 

All three stared at him for a moment, as if assessing the situation or simply looking down on him. 

“Wicked,” Sai whispered with a smile. Neji sighed,

“So when do we get to meet her?” he asked.

“Oh please… let it be soon,” Tenten mumbled.

As if on cue, the doorbell rang and Lee stood up excitedly, eyes wide as he put down his coffee,

“That’s for me!” he announced, running off towards the door.

Ino stood in a thick black coat and her blonde hair in her normal ponytail as Lee opened the door. She looked up at him with a wide smile.

“Hi!” The seventeen year old said, her eyes sparkling. Lee gave her his signature smile,

“You promise to be good?” Lee asked, winking at her.

“Of course I’ll be good,” Ino said, her expression changing to one of confusion. Lee’s smile dropped into a serious face,

“Seriously, please be good,” Lee said, worry spreading across his features as he imagined how harsh his friends would be judging the poor girl. Ino hesitated, looking worried as well,

“Am I normally not…?” She asked. Before Lee could answer, Neji swung the rest of the door open and stared at Ino with a dead serious face.

“Hey Ino, this is Neji Hyuga,” Lee said as he quickly smiled at Neji and patted him on the shoulder. Neji continued to glare down at the high schooler. “He’s the ‘prodigy’.” 

Neji stared at her before giving her a quick ‘hey’ and closing the door in her face. He turned to look at Lee straight in the eyes. 

“Lee, is she going to geek out on us?” Neji asked, his face cold. 

“She’ll just sit in the corner.” Lee assured.

“I mean… I WANT her to geek out.”

“She’ll geek, she geeks, she has the capacity to geek…” Lee answered quickly. Neji thought about it once more and then sighed,

“Ok.” He mumbled, and reopened the door to find a surprised looking Ino still standing where they had left her. “You’re good,” he announced, motioning for her to enter by a swing of a thumb over his shoulder. 

Ino smiled lightly as she walked into the room. It was a comfortable, medium sized living room with a few couches and a lot of sound equipment. Ino let her eyes roam free around the area, looking at the microphones and drum set as well as the warm brown color of the walls and rug. It was cozy, but the group had transformed it into their rehearsal area. She felt so cool with her new boyfriend! And his friends seemed awesome too! Neji was dressed in a black v-neck and black jeans with a white belt, his shoes white as well and his gorgeous long hair in a tight pony tail. Lee himself was looking dazzling with a green t-shirt with a weird heart on it and some casual jeans as well as brown shoes. 

“Wow,” Ino said, looking around once more. 

“Here, let me get your coat Ino!” Lee said quickly, reaching over as she began shedding the outer layer. 

“Hi,” Ino said when her eyes met with Tenten. The girl was sitting behind a massive drum set and her hair was in two strong buns on either sides of her head. She was wearing a white sweater and ripped jeans. Her expression was cold and uninterested, though. 

“Ino, that’s Tenten,” Lee said as he took the coat from Ino and threw it across the room over his shoulder, the big black piece of clothing knocking over the coat stand and crashing into the closet. 

“Sorry, what was your name?” Ino asked, her eyes wide with friendliness. 

“Tenten,” the brunette answered coldly. 

“And you play the drums?” Ino asked innocently, the purple turtle neck she was wearing was kind of warm but the room temperature was nice. She let her hands drop to the sides of her jean-covered legs. 

Tenten stared at Ino from behind the massive drum set with a look of disbelief,

“Yes,” she said dryly. 

“That is so, awesome!” Ino said with a smile, she walked over and sat down on the couch. At that moment Sai walked into the room,

“Ino that’s Young Sai,” Lee said over his shoulder as he plugged in his bass. Sai gave Ino an emotionless smile as he dropped next to her in the couch.

“Hi,” he said,

“Hi,” Ino answered sweetly. “So, what do you play?” she asked him. Sai raised his eyebrows,

“Wow… um… I play Zelda… Pacman… Tetris… that’s kind of a big question…” Sai answered, thinking really hard about the answer. Ino considered what she had asked for a moment before she was interrupted by her boyfriend,

“Alright! Let’s start with Piggyback Raceback!” Lee announced. Neji quickly ran up to the microphone, face turning red,

“Uh, that’s not the actual tittle of the…” but he was cut off by Tenten’s loud and ringing voice,

“WE ARE YOUTH TEAM GUY, ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR!” 

Music ripped through the room as soon as she said the last word, Tenten’s beat steady and strong as Neji’s amazing voice started singing and his guitar ripped through the air. Lee was right in with them, going crazy on his bass and jumping up and down to the beat, his black hair whipping everywhere. Ino and Sai both stared in awe as the song continued, raw with rhythm and sound until Neji dropped the last few lyrics sand they finished in a strong chord. 

“You guys,” Ino said, her eyes wide and her jaw open, “Are so… Amazing…” 

…

“She seems nice,” Neji stated later on, when they were all sitting on Sai’s bed (except for Sai who was on the computer).

“Yeah!” Lee said, his smile wide.

“Yeah, she seems awesome.” Sai added,

“Yeah, she is,” Lee answered again, nodding in agreement. Neji even gave him an approving nod and a small whistle of praise. Lee was pumped.

“Lee if your life had a face I would punch it,” Tenten growled. Lee continued nodding,

“Yeah! … Wait what?” Lee shook himself as he heard her words. She turned to glare at him,

“I mean, are you really happy or are you really evil.” She hissed. Lee stared at her in surprise,

“Like… do I have ulterior motives or something? Really? I’m offended, Tenten!” Lee said with a loud voice, his big eyebrows furrowed together. Tenten raised her eyebrows,

“Wounded, even?” she asked,

“Hurt, Tenten.” Lee stated, still glaring at her. She rolled her eyes,

“You, Rock Lee? Hurt?” she asked. It was no secret that Lee’s father was a trainer from the best Olympic institution in Toronto, and he had whipped the boy into shape. It had been an ongoing joke of theirs that Lee simply couldn’t get hurt. Even though that joke sometimes bleed into the more emotional side of things. Lee glared at her for another moment before shifting his attention,

“Sai, you were saying something about her being awesome?” Lee asked. Sai turned to look at him, innocence on his features, 

“Yeah, she seems awesome,” he repeated with a smile.

“Yeah,” Lee said, nodding once more. Neji even whistled in approval once more, also trying to change the subject. God, he hated it when Lee and Tenten got into those arguments… they just didn’t know how to keep things professional.


	2. Chapter 2

Afterwards

 

Lee trudged through the thick Toronto snow with his coat high up against his cheek bones. He walked on the sidewalk until he took a sharp turn into a small corner of a building where a rusty metal door stood all by itself. A single weak lamp sitting over the door and snow covering most of the plants and surfaces around it. He walked up and fumbled with his keys before getting the door open. The warm air greeted his cold face and he sighed in relief. That was quickly gone as soon as he noticed his roommate Kiba sitting in their only armchair reading the newspaper. The armchair sat in the back of the room in between the closet and the mattress. Next to that there was a small kitchen area.

“Before you hear some dirty lies from someone else, yes, I’m dating a seventeen year old.” Lee said as he shook his sneakers off on the front door rug, trying to get rid of the melting snow.

“Aw, is he cute?” Kiba’s voice traveled over the black and white paper. Lee sighed and unzipped his jacket, 

“Hahaha…” Lee pretended to laugh as he put away his jacket. Kiba put down the newspaper lightly, his dark eyes looking at Lee from above it. 

“Does this mean we have to stop sleeping together?” Kiba asked innocently.

“Come on Kiba, do you see any other beds in here?” Lee asked casually, walking over to the bathroom. Kiba looked down at the single double mattress in the whole room. 

“Oh yeah,” he stated, completely unamused, “You’re totally my bitch forever.”

At plain sight one would have thought that the apartment belonged to both of them equally, since they shared it, but in reality more than 90% of the things in the place belonged to Kiba. This included his dog, who sat next to him obediently taking a long nap. Lee exited the bathroom with a sigh,

“So… the whole ‘her being seventeen’ year old thing… don’t tell too many people, ok Kiba?” Lee asked politely. 

“Hey,” Kiba said, closing the newspaper and letting it fall next to the chair on the floor, “You know me.” He said, looking up at Lee innocently. Lee sighed,

“I mean, don’t tell my sister.” He specified. Kiba didn’t even let him finish before he pulled out his phone and texted someone,

“You know me…” Kiba said, standing up from the arm chair and walking across the room, his dog following closely. 

“Who are you texting?” Lee asked with worry. But not a single second had gone by before their landline rang bright and loud. Lee looked down at it and picked it up just as Kiba entered the bathroom and locked the door. He didn’t even get to say hello before his sister’s voice echoed into his ears,

“Seventeen years old? Scandal!” Shizune stated simply, he could even hear the smile on her lips. 

“That’s not true! Who told you…?” Lee said quickly. His sister Shizune was younger than him but always acted ten years older than him. 

“Kiba, duh!” she answered. Lee sighed and closed his eyes,

“That gossipy bitch…” he whispered. 

“You know me.” Kiba called as he propped the bathroom door open for a second,

“Kiba!” Lee growled, but his roommate had already closed the door once more. 

“Who is this mystery child you date.” Shizune asked him. Lee sat down and sighed,

“Her name is Yamanaka Ino… she’s Japanese…” Lee whispered the last part, feeling a little ashamed. There was a silence on the other side of the call.

“A seventeen year old, Japanese school girl…? You’re ridiculous.” Shizune stated. Lee was silent for a few seconds, rubbing his eyes with his fingers, trying to find a way to get his dignity back.

“It’s a catholic school too…” he mumbled. Oh yeah, that was going to get his dignity back for sure.

“With the uniform and everything?” she asked.

“Yeah… the whole deal…” he answered as he stood up and sat down on the bed near him. 

“Oh my gosh… you guys… haven’t…” Shizune began, worry in her words.

“No, no, no, no… we haven’t even held hands yet.” Lee stated, wrapping his right arm around his knees, “I think… she hugged me once?”

“Lee, why are you doing this?” Shizune asked. Lee could hear the coffee machines in the background, Shizune worked at a coffee shop during the winter break and spent most of her time there.

“I don’t know… it’s just nice, you know? It’s just… simple.” He sighed. Shizune paused,

“It’s been a year since you got dumped by… ‘she who shall not be named’… so… are you legitimately moving on or is this just you being insane?” Shizune asked, worry in her words. 

“Can I get back to you on that?” Lee asked. Shizune rolled her eyes,

“No Lee, you really need to pull yourself together! And using this Japanese school girl to forget about what happened doesn’t count as moving on.” Shizune stated simply. Lee sighed,

“I know, it’s just… Can I just have this for now? I’ll figure it out, I promise Shizune.” Lee said with a tired voice. There was silence in the other side of the line,

“Alright… I’ll let you figure this out little brother. Tell me when you do.” She said, “Love you!” 

“Love you too, bye.” Lee said as he hung up. He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. A sudden gush of wind and clicking of door notified him that Kiba was out of the bathroom.

“It’s bedtime!” Kiba announced, diving into the bed in only boxers next to Lee. His dog ran in after him and settled on his back. Lee sighed, he wasn’t sure he would get too much sleep that night.

…

The school bell rung strong and loud through the air, announcing the end of class day for hundreds of attention lacking kids who ran out, all of them ready to enjoy their weekend. 

“I do not want to be here at all…” Kiba groaned, standing next to Lee, his face miserable. 

“This school has boys too!” Lee added, trying to lift Kiba’s spirits up. Kiba only sighed, his dog Akamaru sitting restlessly next to him.

“I hate you…” he hissed. “Even I would think twice before dating a seventeen year old.” Lee sighed,

“Well, she’s only allowed out when the sun is up so I wouldn’t call it dating…” Lee answered, his bowl cut hidden underneath a stripped beanie. “It’s more like…”

“Playtime?” Kiba suggested, eyes questioning his roommate’s sanity. Lee thought about it,

“That doesn’t sound so good either…”

“No,” Kiba assured. 

“Lee!” Both boys turned around so see an excited Ino running towards then, skipping even. 

“Hey Ino!” Lee answered as she arrived in front of them, “This is my cool gay roommate, Kiba.”  
Kiba waved at Ino with a small smile. 

“Hi,” Ino said with a smile.

“He’s gay.” Lee emphasized, earning a side look from Kiba. 

“Oh, do you want to know who in my class is gay?” Ino asked.

“Yes, does he wear glasses?” Kiba asked quickly.

“Kiba, you can go now…. Be gone.” Lee said, turning very serious. Kiba gave him another side glance before taking Ino’s hand in his own and looking into her eyes,

“You’re too good for him… run.” He said, and with that, he walked away, Akamaru running beside him happily. Lee gave a small and forced chuckle at that,

“Um, should we get going?” 

…

Lee had an amazing time with Ino. They went and played a ninja game in the arcade, where he was able to crack a good joke about Pacman, after which they went to get pizza and then went to a thrift shop to buy clothes. After all that, they went to the record shop to check out some music. The whole time Ino kept telling him about how she admired the Youth Team Guy and how they rocked. Lee basked in the complements, feeling flattered and all over nice.

“You guys are going to be huge!” Ino said with an excited smile,

“Well, that would be nice, I agree.” Lee answered. Suddenly Ino thought of something and turned towards a girl standing a few feet from them. 

“Excuse me? Do you have anything by The Clash at Akatsuki?” 

The girl stared at her in disbelief, 

“Have you tried the section marked The Clash at Akatsuki?” The girl retorted. Ino seemed surprised by her harsh words,

“Thank you… Karui…” Lee said softly, leading Ino away from the temperamental girl. 

“Are you coming to my party tomorrow, or will you be busy… babysitting?” Kuro retorted.

“Thank you, Karui,” Lee restated, rolling his eyes. He turned to Ino who was picking out a CD, “You don’t want to listen to her…” he said, suddenly noticing the CD that Ino had picked out, “And you definitely don’t want to listen to THEM.” He said, taking the CD of The Clash at Akatsuki and throwing it into a different pile of CDs. 

“Oh but I like them so much!” Ino said, walking through the aisle next to Lee.

“I liked them too… until they signed to a major label, and the lead singer turned into a total bitch and ruined my life forever but… that’s just me.” He finished. 

“Deadly Adams is so cool! Have you read her blog?” Ino asked excitedly,

“Hey! Look at the time! It’s time for me to walk you home Ino!” Lee said, pulling the blushing girl by the wrist and out of the record shop.

After changing the subject a few more times and taking a bus, they were finally arriving to Ino’s house. 

“I’ve never gone out with anybody so talented!” She continued admiring,

“Do you go out with a lot of guys?” Lee asked, curiously,

“No…” Ino said,

“Yeah well, I hope I’ve given you a good first experience so far!” Lee said with his signature smile. Ino seemed to slow down, making Lee turn around to face her,

“I’ve never even kissed a guy,” she said, blushing lightly. Lee smiled and reached out towards her, holding her shoulder,

“Hey… that’s ok… me neither!” he said simply, and pulled her into a small hug in which she smiled and giggled a little. They soon arrived to Ino’s house and Ino reached up and gave Lee a small kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you for today, I’ll see you tomorrow!” Ino said with a big smile, running into her house. Lee waved and slowly made his way back to the bus stop, getting ready for a long ride home.


	3. Chapter 3

That night, Lee dreamed. 

He was standing somewhere dry and desolate. The sun was pounding onto his skin and everything was so HOT he could barely stand it. The only thing near him was a small cactus and sand… LOTS of sand everywhere. 

“Oh god,” he said. He repeated the phrase various times, tired and confused about where he even was. The hot sand burning through his knees and making the whole situation even more unbearable. “I’m so… alone…” he whispered to himself, reaching up to clutch his heart that seemed heavy in his chest. Suddenly he heard a voice.

“You’re not alone,” Lee looked up, his dark black hair shielding his eyes from the horrid sun.

“What?” he asked, looking towards the direction of the voice. He could see someone approaching him on… rollerblades? Yes, rollerblades. They had a helmet on and a thick jacket, hiding their face from view. A thick cloud of dust and sand was rising behind them as they got closer and closer to Lee.

“You’re just having some idiotic dream.” The person answered, suddenly whirling past Lee in a cloud of dust and sand. Lee could only sit on his knees and stare after the person, eyes in surprise until the smoke covered him completely. And yet somehow a single sentence came to his head.

“Does that mean we can kiss?!” he yelled after the person.

And with that, he woke up.

Lee sat up in his bed, stunned by the experience.

“Oh my god.” He whispered. Kiba sat up right next to him, his hair a mess,

“What is it, Lee?” he asked with a tired tone, his eyes still closed. 

“I had this incredibly bizarre dream!” Lee said with a tone of excitement, rubbing his charcoal black eyes. 

“Oh my god,” a third male voice said as a third boy sat up on the other side of the bed.

“What is it, other Lee?” Kiba asked the boy. Other Lee was Kiba’s boyfriend, they met in some restaurant where Other Lee was with his girlfriend. Somehow by the end of the night, Other Lee’s girlfriend was out of the picture and Kiba was having a make out session with Other Lee. Lee’s only consolation was the fact that Other Lee looked nothing like him (brown hair, really white, blue eyes… well not that different, but different enough). 

“Can we skip dream time, I’m really not interested…” Other Lee announced, rubbing at his short beard.

“But there was this person…” Lee said, trying to recall the way the person had glided towards him in the sand, looking so strong and powerful and elegant. 

“A person?” Kiba asked,

“Was this a Deadly related dream?” Other Lee asked,

“Hey, we do not use the D word in this house.” Kiba warned Other Lee, his finger poking at his boyfriend’s chest. 

“No, it wasn’t her… it was somebody new.” Lee said, his eyes wide as he got out of bed. Other Lee gave a dramatic sigh,

“Yay for that…” he mumbled before he threw himself back into the pillows. Kiba rubbed his eyes and picked up his watch to check the time when he suddenly frowned,

“Speaking of new, weren’t you supposed to take your fake high school girlfriend to the Library half an hour ago?” Kiba asked. Lee turned to look at him, confused,

“What? It’s like five in the morning…” Lee murmured. That was usually Lee’s wake up hour, since he liked to train in the mornings, but that didn’t mean he would ever put someone else through the labor of waking up at that time. But something clicked in Lee’s head as he turned around and looked at the front door.

“No…” he whispered. He reached forward in fear, not believing it to be the truth. He pulled the door open and screeched in sudden realization. The sun was way up in the sky. It could easily be midday. 

…

One hour and a quick bath, bowl of cereal, digging through clothes and quick sprint to the bus stop later, Lee was walking through the library next to Ino, holding her books for her as she picked out what she was going to need for the next semester. 

“This is weird…” Lee said, looking around,

“What is?” Ino asked, placing a few books in his hands,

“Libraries remind me of when I was in Grade School…” Lee mentioned, looking around at the books that seemed to glare at him from the shelves. Ino giggled,

“That must seem like a really long time ago,” she said with a smile,

“Yes, in fact it kind of does, I still remember that my father was one of my teachers!”

“Do you look like him?” she asked. Lee remembered his father’s face, how they looked exactly the same in everything except his eyes, nose, and mouth (which were from his grandfather on his mother’s side). 

“Yeah, I do… we even have the same haircut!” Lee chuckled. “… But let’s talk about something else…”

Soon they had all the books Ino would need and they headed down the stairs to the front desk to check them out when suddenly, Lee froze. 

Standing in front of the desk was a person wearing rollerblades who was wearing the same jeans as the person in his dream. Lee’s eyes traveled up slowly, taking in strong legs and a black leather jacket wrapped tightly around a lean torso. He almost stopped breathing when he noticed a helmet placed next to the person, the exact same black helmet he had seen in the dream. His eyes dared to travel even further up, and that’s when his heart exploded.

Lee knew he was straight… or so he thought. In fact, it was one of the things he was almost entirely sure about. I mean, it wasn’t like knowing Kiba had opened any weird doors for him or anything like that... it was just that he never really considered anybody other than girls. 

But that changed in the matter of seconds.

The boy standing in front of the desk with a black and tight leather jacket and jeans and rollerblades, was gorgeous. He had bright red hair that stuck out in different directions and a strange red tattoo on the right side of his forehead. He wore eyeliner around his eyes so thick they caused a dark halo around his sea-blue eyes. Sea-blue eyes that turned to look at Lee in that instant and made his heart stop. 

The boy didn’t give Lee more than two seconds of his attention before turning around and gliding out of the library with elegance.  
Lee stared at him until he left, his eyes wide and amazed. He barely heard when Ino said,

“Do you know that guy?”

She was too far away for him to hear her. Currently, he was still lost in the sea-blue of those beautiful eyes.

…

“LEE!” Lee almost fell back in shock when Neji’s voice screamed into his ear.

“What!” he yelled in response. Neji stared at him with a concerned look,

“You only played one note for that entire song.” Neji told him, taking his guitar pick in his teeth as he leaned down to change some plugs in his guitar. 

“Is your girlfriend distracting you?” Tenten asked, leaning on the drums for support.

“My girlfriend..? What?” Lee said until he turned around and saw Ino sitting quietly in the corner of the couch with Sai. 

“I’ll be quieter…” she whispered, barely audible. 

“Let’s do that one again,” Neji announced, testing a few chords on his guitar.

“Sorry, which song again?” Lee asked. Everyone groaned in unison.

…

“Lee snap out of it! I’ve told you like fifty times!” Neji barked, digging his hands into his white coat as Tenten walked alongside him in a stripped longer coat.

“We’re going to this party, retard.” She told him.

“Party?” Lee asked, his mind still wandering in a sea of blood red hair.

“Kuro’s party.” Young Sai answered. Lee groaned,

“I thought you and Kuro split up!” Lee asked Neji.

“Yes, we did, but there might be some label guys there so we have to do some networking.” Neji explained methodically. 

“Why do I feel like this is going to suck…?” Lee complained,

“Yeah, suck…” Sai echoed quietly,

“Please don’t give us another thing to complain about…” Tenten sighed as they continued towards the party.

…

“This sucks,” Lee confirmed as he stood in the middle of the party with a cup in his hand. The party was a house party and there was far too many people crowding the small place. Young Sai simply stood next to him and nodded,

“Sucks…” he echoed again, also holding a cup in his hands. Lee sighed,

“I’m going to go use the bathroom due to boredom…” he said as he began walking towards the bathrooms. Sai was silent until Lee left, then silently whispered,

“I have to use the bathroom too…” and turned to follow Lee.

…

Lee was walking up the steps of the house towards the second floor when he was suddenly stopped by a familiar face who was ranting about something to another person,

“Hey Lee!” he said,

“Oh, hey Shikamaru,” Lee said,

“How about this party huh? You finish your first drink yet?” he asked,

“No, I don’t drink, this is just cranberry juice.” Lee pointed out. Shikamaru gave him a look,

“What do you mean you don’t drink? I have literally seen you drunk off your ass with just half a beer…!” he exclaimed,

“Hey, Shikamaru,” Lee said suddenly, remembering something, “You know everyone, right?” 

Shikamaru gave him a smug look and shrugged, his dark green shirt bouncing as he did,

“Heh, yeah pretty much, I do.” Shikamaru confirmed.

“Do you know a guy with hair like this?” Lee asked as he pulled out a paper with bright red sharpie scribbled all over it and held it next to his face.

“Yes,” Shikamaru immediately answered, “That’s Gaara Sand, one of the three Sand siblings. The sister is smoking hot, just so you know, I call dibs on her. Somebody said he going to be here tonight, actually.” Lee’s eyes widened.

“What!” Lee stated harshly, his eyes already looking over into the sea of people in the small house. 

“Hey, woah, Lee, listen, I don’t know what you want with this kid but I better warn you, um, he’s a little hardcore…” but Shikamaru was talking to air the next second because Lee was long gone in the crowd of people.

Everyone seemed to be in slow motion, passing Lee as he made his way through the crowd. He felt kind of ridiculous in his green short-sleeved dress shirt, but his dark black eyes scanned the whole room and every face in it, until something bright red caught his eyes.

He stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes wide and his hand slowly crunching the cup in his hands as he took in the view before him. 

Gaara stood alone in the corner, a bright red button-up shirt the color of his hair hugged his body in a beautiful way, and his hair fell on the sides of his face like a beautiful red halo. His sea-blue eyes looked through the crowd, not really focused on anything, and he was also holding a cup in his hands. He was leaning against the wall and was wearing black jeans and black boots. 

He was gorgeous.

He could feel it in his heart, the feeling he had never felt before.

It was like a crush multiplied by a thousand, and he was feeling every single corner of it burst with anticipation. Nobody had ever made him feel like that… except for this one guy.

This ONE guy…

And that guy was less than a meter way from Lee, who had quickly proceeded to lean on the wall near Gaara. With one more swift step to his left, Lee made his move, and was now a few inches from him as he flashed him his signature smile,

“Hey! What’s up!” Lee said casually. Gaara glanced at him, eyes uninterested, but somehow it meant the world to Lee.

“Nothing,” Gaara said simply. Lee said the first thing that came to mind,

“Hey, do you know Pacman?” he asked suddenly. Gaara eyes were still glued to the crowd of people,

“I know of him,” Gaara answered, taking a sip of his drink. Lee’s drink was currently a bundle of plastic in his right hand by now.

“Well, um, did you know that Pacman was originally called Pucman… They changed it because…” Gaara spared him a half-interested glance as he continued with his strange fact, making Lee dangerously nervous suddenly, “Uh, not because Pacman looks like a hockey puck but because ‘paku paku’ means ‘flap your mouth’… and they were worried, people would… scratch out the ‘p’ and turn it into an ‘f’… and…” Lee tried to continue his dieing joke while Gaara’s blue eyes watched him with an expression that seemed to contain slight amusement, confusion, and pity. Also he looked like he was waiting for the joke to have a punchline. 

Lee wanted to die.

“Heh…” Lee tried to laugh at his joke, trying to avoid eye-contact with the redhead. Gaara simply stared at him for a moment before saying in a very monotone voice,

“Yeah… that’s amazing,” with dripping sarcasm. 

Lee tried to think hard about what to say next, he really did, but somehow his emotions and body were so confused and nervous all that came out was,

“Uh… am I dreaming?” 

Gaara’s eyes lowered into a confused stare and Lee felt himself dyeing all over again as a thick silence drifted between them, making Lee feel like he was miles away from the beautiful boy. So he took a deep breath and did the only thing he had the guts to do at the moment.

“I’ll leave alone for ever now,” Lee managed to say,

“Thanks,” Gaara said, still staring at him like he was mad. Lee slowly turned around left Gaara alone, shame dawning on him as he did.  
But then…

He stalked Gaara…

Until he left…

The party.

The moment he saw Gaara leaving through the back door Lee sprinted through the crowd at max speed and whipped Young Sai around to face him with a strong grip on the younger boy’s shoulder.

“SAI!” Lee yelled,

“What!” Sai yelled,

“He’s totally real!” Lee yelled, his eyes wide but his expression serious and dire. 

“Who?!” Sai yelled,

“Gaara Sand,” Lee said, his eyes looking away, lost in the distance, remembering those beautiful eyes and red hair and lean body. 

“What?” Sai yelled. But Lee was gone before he could answer Sai’s question.

…

“SHIKAMARU,” Lee yelled as he jumped in front of Shikamaru. Shikamaru backed up a bit and put his hand up indicated Lee to stop,

“Woah,” Shikamaru said, surprised at being jumped by Lee.

“What do you know about Gaara Sand?” Lee demanded, his voice harsh and curious.

“All I know is that he’s American.” Shikamaru answered quickly,

“American…” Lee whispered to himself, his eyes turning dreamy,

“Why don’t you go talk to Matsuri and Sari, they know a lot more about…” but once again he was talking to air, “Dammit, how does he move so fast!?”

…

Lee walked straight into the conversation of two girls talking, one of them with short light brown hair (Matsuri) and the other with long and straight dark brown hair (Sari). Both of them were laughing at something but their expressions changed to serious ones as soon as they spotted Lee right in front of them.

“Ladies,” Lee stated, “What do you know about Gaara sand?”

“I heard he’s got somebody special, what a pity!” Matsuri said with a soft blush, “He’s do dreamy!”

“Yeah, I heard he has someone special waiting for him in New York,” Sari said with a knowing smile,

“Yeah, yeah, what else?” Lee demanded.

…

Lee spent the rest of the party asking around the whole place if anybody knew anything about Gaara Sand.

“I heard he kicks all kinds of ass.” Hanabi (Neji’s cousin) had told him,

“He’s on…” Iruka looked up, as if the ceiling would have the words he needed to describe the redhead, “Another level!”

“He has woman and men dyeing at his feet.” Karui said, no surprise in her eyes,

“He’s got some battle scars, dude,” Konohamaru told Lee, nodding his head in agreement to his own words.

“What ABOUT Gaara Sand,” Karui growled at Lee, 

“You know him? Tell me now,” Lee demanded.

“He just moved here, got a job at Amazon, comes into my work…” Karui said, her eyes drilled into Lee’s skull.

“Does he really?” Lee asked dreamily. 

“Didn’t you say he just broke up with someone?” Neji said as he appeared suddenly next to Karui, his hand automatically going around her shoulders,

“Did he really?” Lee asked, eyes wide in curiosity,

“They had, uh, a huge fight or something?” Neji asked. Karui rolled her eyes,

“Did they really?” Lee almost whispered, hope tracing his words.

“Yes!” Karui hissed, pushing away from Neji, “But I didn’t want Lee to know that, Neji!”

“Yeah… I don’t know what it is about that guy…” Lee said, his eyes dreamy as he looked into the distance.

“Wait, Lee, you’re into a GUY?” Neji asked, his eyes wide.

“I know, I didn’t think it was possible but it’s just… this one guy…” Lee’s eyes were dreamy as Karui’s eyes widened in realization.

“LEE! I forbid you from hitting on Gaara, even if you haven’t had a real relationship in over a year!” Karui growled,

Lee gave an offended gasp.

“Hey! Woah, Lee’s mourning period is officially over,” Neji said in Lee’s defense, getting past the sudden surprise quite quickly. Neji was a smart guy, he was probably able to put two and two together and understand that this was a first time thing for Lee, “He’s totally dating a high schooler.” 

“Dating a high schooler IS a mourning period.” Karui added. Neji sighed,

“She’s got a point.” He said, putting his arms around her shoulder again.

“I thought you guys broke up?” Lee said suddenly, his eyes on the arm around Karui,

“Lee!” Karui hissed as she pushed Neji away again, “I don’t want you scaring the coolest guy in my party, Lee, we all know you’re a total lady killer wannabe jerky jerk…” Karui growled, taking a drink from her cup. 

“That is not true!” Lee defended himself,

“That time with Kurotsuchi?” she asked,

“That was a misunderstanding…” Lee answered,

“That time with Tamaki?”

“That wasn’t what it looked like.”

“That time you dumped Tenten for…”

“Ok, look, me and Tenten are all good now, alright?” Lee said with a small smile as he turned to motion towards his drummer friend who was sitting on a couch in the corner of the room. She was staring at him with death in her eyes and Lee felt himself shiver.

“Whatever! Listen, Gaara is out of your league, let’s just leave it at that ok?” Karui said, “Besides, I’m not even sure he did have a big breakup. He keeps on mentioning some girl named Kaguya…” 

“Yeah, I don’t know what it is about that guy…” Lee began again,

“Forget it Lee!” Karui screeched.

The rest of the party was a blur for Lee, only being able to remember Gaara’s voice in his head, the color of his skin, how soft it looked. Lee didn’t even notice when he left the party.


	4. Chapter 4

The door of the apartment swung open to reveal a tall shadow in the doorway covered in snow.

“Guess who’s drunk.” The familiar voice called before shutting the door closed and flicking the lights on. Akamaru barked in response, right at his owner’s side as always.

“I guess Kiba…” Lee murmured sleepily. Kiba threw off his bag and scarf,

“You guessed right!” Kiba announced as he threw his keys directly at Lee’s head, which Lee caught with little effort, and then threw himself on his side of the bed next to Lee, Akamaru running close by and nudging his way in between the two boys. Lee turned from his side to his back, staring up at the ceiling,

“So that guy from my dream,” Lee began,

“Oh, it was a guy?” Kiba asked, mildly interested,

“I saw him at the library,” Lee added,

“Mmm Library… WAIT,” Kiba almost sat up immediately, “We are actually talking about a guy? Like, is this official?”

“Shut up and listen Kiba this is important!”

“We need to have a talk about your sexuality after this.”

“Ok, but just listen.” Lee sighed, “And then I’m at this party, and, hey, there he is.”

Kiba stared at Lee, his eyes wide in amazement but his head still buried in the pillow.

“I think he’s…” Lee began,

“You think he’s…” Kiba repeated, as if trying to get Lee to talk faster before he fell asleep.

“I think he’s the guy of my dreams…” Lee said with a dreamy sigh.

“Wow… I never imagined this day would come… my gaydar didn’t even flinch when it saw you… are you sure you’re gay?” Kiba asked, worry in his words, “This could be a messy situation if you don’t figure that out before.”

“No, I’m not gay, I don’t like guys but… it’s just, this ONE guy. He’s… he’s perfect.” Lee breathed. Kiba stared at him, his eyes fond,

“Well, that happens sometimes you know? You’re one sexuality, and then you meet one person that just flips your whole world, even if it’s just that person.” Kiba sighed, his eyes betraying him as the started to slip shut. But one thing came into his head before he could drift off to sleep,

“But that means you should break up with your fake high school girlfriend.” Kiba said,

“I’ve never been so sure about something,” Lee sighed, ignoring Kiba,

“Then you should break up with your fake high school girlfriend.” Kiba repeated, this time even softer,

“What’s that?” Lee asked, suddenly realizing Kiba was talking to him,

“You should break the school friend high girl….” Kiba mumbled as sleep finally took over his senses. 

“I’m not getting it, Kiba…” Lee said, still trying to get his roommate to repeat himself, but suddenly the phone rang, cutting through the initial silence in the room. Lee picked up,

“You’re thinking about juggling two relationships,” Shizune’s harsh voice pierced into Lee’s ear.

“What! No!” Lee immediately answered.

“Then you should break up with your fake high school girlfriend!” she hissed,

“Wait, who told you?” Lee asked,

“Kiba! Duh!” She answered. Lee whipped his head around to look down at a sleeping Kiba,

“He’s not even conscious,” Lee added,

“Well, whatever!” she said, the sound of boiling coffee nearby her even at these hours of the night. “You of all people, should know how sucky it is to get cheated on.” 

“Don’t you have a job to do?” Lee asked, rubbing his eyes,

“You’re right… I should send out a mass text about this, bye!” Shizune said and hung up. Lee sighed in disbelief before putting down the phone and turning to look at Kiba again. Kiba was snoring, but his phone was turned on and in his hands, open to a chat he was having with Shizune, his unconscious fingers hovering over the keyboard. 

“Kiba, how do you do that?” Lee whispered before he reached over to turn off the lights, settled back into bed and drifted into sleep.

…

“KIBA!” Lee yelled from across the room. Kiba’s head shot up and he noticed his phone in his hands completely out of battery. He craned his head back to look at Lee siting crisscross on the floor in front of his computer. “Amazon dot CA what’s the website for that?”  
Kiba stared at him for a few seconds before answering, “Amazon dot Ca…” Lee nodded excitedly and typed in the website URL. 

“I need to order something really amazing!” Lee said out loud as he scrolled through the different pages.

*You got mail!* the computerized voice suddenly said, Lee’s eyes widened.

“Kiba, this thing says I have mail.” He said repeated out loud, Kiba sighed and took his jacket off from last night,

“It’s amazing what we can do with computers these days…” he mumbled,

“Kiba, now I’m reading it!” Lee exclaimed, giving Kiba an excited look. Kiba threw his jacket across the room and started taking off his shoes,

“So happy for you…” he sighed, petting Akamaru on his soft back as the little dog snored.

Lee started reading the letter out loud,

“Dear Mr. Rock Lee,

It has come to my attention that we will be fighting soon. My name is Karin Patel, and blah, blah, blah, blah…” Lee kept reading, not really paying much attention, “Fair warning… blahdidiblah… seven evil blah blah… this is…” Lee squinted, his face going dead serious,

“This is…” he repeated, his eyes widening, “This is…” his voice turned grave. Kiba finished taking off his sweater and groaned,

“What?” he growled.

“This is… booooring.” Lee stated, “Delete.” He said to himself as he clicked the ‘delete’ button and got rid of the mail. 

Kiba sighed and yawned once again when he suddenly noticed something. 

“Lee?” Kiba asked, “Are you waiting for the package you just ordered?” he asked the bowl-cut boy who was sitting crisscross in front of the front door.

“Maybe…” Lee mumbled, still staring at the door like it might burst into flames at any moment.

“It’s the weekend. It won’t ship until Monday at the earliest.” Kiba mentioned, petting Akamaru so he would wake up too. 

The sudden sound of a ringing doorbell suddenly cut through the air.

“You were saying?” Lee said with a triumphant smile as he stood up and immediately opened the front door when suddenly…

“Yay! Attack hug!” Ino yelled as she jumped into his arms from outside.

“Hey… attack hug!” Lee answered with less than half the energy he usually spoke with. “So cute, so cute…” he mumbled, a strained smile on his face.

“Remember?” Ino said, “You were supposed to meet me at the bus stop a half hour ago.” She said with her bright smile.

“How could I possibly forget?” Lee said awkwardly, chuckling when Ino reached up to give him another hug. He frowned as soon as he was out of her line of sight as she buried her face in his shoulder. Kiba groaned and threw himself back into bed to avoid the awkward scene and Lee suddenly realized that Kiba was right… he had to break up with his fake high school girlfriend.

…

Ino and Lee did the same routine they did every time they went out. They went to the record shop, the thrift shop, the pizza place and finally, the arcade. They played the ninja game the whole time, but Lee’s mind was elsewhere. Thinking about the beautiful boy he had talked to at the party. The whole time Ino kept on talking about high school drama and her two friends Sakura and Hinata and all the clubs she was part of. At some point he didn’t even notice that he had completely failed at his part of the ninja game,

“Hey, are you alright?” Ino asked, suddenly noticing his silence.

“Me? Oh, yeah! Of course I am!” Lee said, trying to sound enthusiastic. Ino giggled,

“Well, how about another round? Do you want to keep on going?” she asked. Lee was suddenly silent as he looked down at Ino’s blue eyes. They just didn’t seem as beautiful anymore, dimmed in comparison to the eyes he had met in the library.

“I think we should…” Lee began, Ino’s expectant eyes looking at him, “I think we should…”

Lee was unable to finish that sentence for the life of him.

…

Lee was strumming sad chords in a guitar after rehearsal the next day when suddenly Neji walked into the room and pulled the microphone to his lips.

“Game on, everybody, game on.” His deep voice announced. He looked around, preparing them for his announcement, “I got us a show.”

“OH MY GOD! WHEN?” Ino screeched as she jumped in front of Neji, who backed up in surprise. She was wearing a makeshift shirt of their band.

“Wednesday,” he answered, “In the Rockit, and even better its part of the TIBB.” Neji said, sounding proud of his achievement. 

“Woah,” Young Sai said, looking up from his drawing pad. 

“The Toronto International Battle of the Bands?” Ino asked, her eyes wide with excitement. 

“That’s right.” Neji said with a smug smile, Ino gasped.

“Choji was like, Neji, do you know anybody in a band? And I was like, I’m in a band. And he was like, you’re in a band? And I was like, yeah, I am totally in a band.” Neji said, nodding his face with a look that said ‘yeah, that’s right’. 

“Great story, man,” Tenten answered in a monotonous voice.

“Is there a prize or something?” Ino asked.

“Only a record deal with K-Man White.” Neji finished, trying to sound calm about it all. Ino turned around and looked at Lee with wide eyes,

“Who’s that?” Lee asked,

“You don’t know!?” Ino yelled, turning to look at Neji,

“Indie producer of the Millenium,” Neji explained with disbelief. 

“Oh… right…” Lee said.

“If we win, it won’t just be Ino wearing Youth Team Guy shirts.” Neji stated, placing an arm around Ino’s shoulders and motioning towards the shirt that fit her perfectly. “It’ll be the cool kids too.” 

Ino gasped in sharply and ran over to Lee, sliding onto her knees in front of him.

“I PROMISE, I will do EVERYTHING I can to get out of the study group and come!” She said, her eyes burying into Lee’s skull. Lee tried to sound excited, tried to do anything to show is gratefulness but all that came out was…

“I have to use the bathroom.” And with that he stood up and ran over to the bathroom. From the distance he could hear Ino asking about who they would battle, mentioning a certain band called ‘Boom and the Girls’ or something, but Lee was already drifting off into his dream world as he shut the bathroom door.

…

That night, Lee dreamt that he was in a high school hallway with all the grey lockers on the sides. He looked around in a confused manner, and then started walking down one of the halls curiously. When he suddenly saw a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. He whirled around to see Gaara dressed in his usual rollerblading outfit exiting one of the classroom doors and heading down the hallway in the opposite direction of where Lee was.

“Hey!” Lee called, immediately running after him. But as he turned a corner he realized that Gaara was standing in front of a door that looked exactly like his home’s door, with the same snow and dim light and everything. Gaara looked for something in his pocket as Lee suddenly realized what was happening and burst out of the dream with a loud, “HEY!” 

He sat up in his bed and ran towards the door, the doorbell ringing repeatedly until she swung the door open to face those beautiful sea-green eyes. 

“Uh… Rock Lee?” Gaara asked, looking down at the name on the package he had brought to deliver. Lee took no time to blurt out the first things that came to his mind,

“Hi, I was thinking about asking you out but then I realized how stupid that would be.” Lee said quickly, immediately giving Gaara his signature smile. “So do you want to go out some time?”

Gaara gave him an expressionless look, “Um, no, that’s ok, you can just sign for this, alright?” he asked, pushing the package into Lee’s hands. Lee ignored it,

“I just woke up and you were in my dream.” Lee said, “I dreamt that you were delivering me this package. Is that weird?” he said with a small chuckle.

“It’s not weird at all.” Gaara said simply. Lee looked away in confusion for a moment before looking at Gaara again, 

“It’s not…” he began,

“No, it’s just that we have this really convenient sub-space highway that I like to use, it’s like, three miles and fifteen seconds…” Gaara explained quickly,

“Right, right…” Lee said, leaning on the door as he gazed dreamily at Gaara.

“I forgot you guys don’t have that in Canada…” Gaara said, suddenly remembering the fact. Lee remembered something,

“You don’t remember me do you? We met at the party the other day.” Lee said, trying to sound casual. Gaara thought about it for a second,

“Were you the Pacman guy?” Gaara asked, his expression still cold and still,

“No! No,” Lee said quickly, “Not even, that was some total ass…” Lee said with a smile, trying to look cooler than he felt. “I was… the other guy.” He finished. Gaara half nodded before bringing the package up to Lee’s face again,

“Look, you need to sign for this… whatever this is.” He said, offering Lee a pen as well.

“But if I sign for it, you’ll leave.” Lee pointed out,

“Yes, that’s how it works.” Gaara nodded. 

“Ok, well, maybe, do you want to hang out some time? Get to know each other?” Lee asked, raising his thick eyebrows in the process, as if they themselves were asking the question. “You’re the new kid on the block, and I’ve lived here forever.” Lee said with a smile, before it suddenly faded and he looked at Gaara with full seriousness, “There are reasons… for you to hang out with me…”

Gaara gave Lee a long and serious look,

“You want me to hang out with you?” he restated the obvious. Lee nodded quickly,

“Um, yeah, if that’s cool…” he mumbled. Gaara stared once more, his ocean colored eyes looking slightly annoyed,

“If I say yes will you sign for your damn package?” he finally answered.

Lee pulled the package out of Gaara’s hands, signed for it and threw it over his shoulder so perfectly it landed straight into the trashcan, all in under two seconds.

“So, yeah, eight o clock?” Lee asked, leaning against the door again.

…

Lee made his way up the long staircase he agreed to meet Gaara at when he noticed the redhead standing in the middle of it, staring into the distance. He was wearing red pants and a black shirt with a stripped gray hoodie and a strap-across black bag. 

“Why are you just standing there?” Lee said, gaining Gaara’s attention, 

“I’m waiting on you.” Gaara answered simply.

“Oh… I’m sorry, I just assumed you were too cool to be here on time.” Lee said with a small blush.

“Oh… well you assumed wrong.” Gaara said with a small smile as he turned and began walking up the steps.

They started talking about things and walking through the snow-covered city, walking through parks and small boulevards,

“So why did you come to Toronto?” Lee asked,

“Just… trying to escape, I guess.” Gaara answered simply, “Kaguya said Toronto was one of the ‘big cities’ so…” Lee nodded, jumping in place to regain the warmth in his feet.

“Is Kaguya… your girlfriend?” Lee asked. Gaara’s expression changed,

“She’s… a friend…” he said, nodding. Lee nodded,

“WAS she your girlfriend?” he asked. Gaara narrowed his eyes,

“Do you mind if we don’t get into that right now?” he said, turning to continue walking.

“Yeah, that’s so not interesting to me anyway…” Lee said with a small smile. “And uh, do you have a girlfriend right now… or boyfriend…” Lee whispered the last part, but somehow that didn’t stop Gaara from turning around to face him again.

“No,” he said simply, “I don’t have either.” He answered with a small smile, and continued walking. They soon reached some lonely swings and sat down on them.

“So what about you, what do you do?” Gaara asked,

“Oh, I’m kind of in between jobs at the moment…” Lee said with a shrug. Gaara looked over at him,

“Between what and what?” he inquired.

“Well, my last job was a long story filled with ‘sighs’.” Lee answered, looking into the distance. Gaara nodded,

“I’ve had some of those…” he said simply. Lee looked over at Gaara, his eyes unable to leave the redhead’s beautiful face,

“Is that why you left New York?” Lee asked.

“Pretty much,” Gaara agreed, now looking into the distance himself. “It was just time to head somewhere a little more chill.” He finished, turning to look at Lee as well. Lee smiled and looked up into the snowing sky,

“Well it’s certainly chill here.” Lee agreed, Gaara smiled softly,

“Yeah,” Gaara answered. Lee continued smiling at Gaara,

“It’s chill as in cold.” He stated the obvious. Gaara gave him a blank stare,

“Yeah,” he said again. 

“So… you came with your siblings?” Lee asked. Gaara’s smile faded slightly,

“Yeah… family was something I was never good with… that’s another long conversation I’d rather not get into… but long story short, as soon as they heard I wasn’t feeling that great in New York, they booked flights there and decided they were going to come help me settle into Toronto. My sister lives here anyway because of her job so it really is helpful but… yeah, that’s why they’re here too.” He finished, his eyes lost in the distance. 

“Cool, I have a sister, she’s younger but acts older every time.” Lee joked, Gaara chuckled,

“Sounds like me,” he sighed,

“You’re the youngest?” Lee asked,

“Yeah, Temari is 3 years older and Kankuro is 2 years older.” Gaara explained.

“Cool, cool,” Lee said, smiling at the redhead.

Suddenly the wind started blowing very hard and they both stood up to start walking again,

“This is ridiculous, isn’t it April?” Gaara asked, looking up into the snowy sky.

“I know, I can barely see you!” Lee joked, “This is an unmitigated disaster. Is it cold in New York?”

“Well, kind of. But I’m not from New York. I’m from the Colorado Deserts, even if it does get pretty cold there.” Gaara explained,

“Nice… well, the snow here just seems to be our ‘act of God’ every year…” Lee joked,

“I think ‘act of God’ is a pretty good excuse for a lousy weathered date.” Gaara pointed out. Lee stopped, a wide smile spreading across his features. 

“So this is a date, huh?” Lee asked, smiling harder than he should have.

“Did I say date?” Gaara said, confusion in his expression. Lee nodded, way happier that he should have been. Gaara shrugged,

“Slip of the tongue,” he said with a smile. 

“Tongue…” Lee echoed, his eyes lost somewhere for just a second before refocusing on Gaara. The redhead chuckled,

“Anyway, it’s not over yet,” Gaara said, turning around to look somewhere, “I think there’s a thingy somewhere around here.” He squinted through the snow-filled air. 

“A thingy?” Lee asked, Gaara turned to look at him,

“A door,” Gaara explained, and suddenly, Lee saw it. A single door standing in the middle of the darkness of the night with no walls around it whatsoever. Gaara spotted it and looked at Lee once more, motioning towards the door with his head.

“Let’s go?” He asked in his rich voice, offering Lee his hand. Lee reached out and grabbed the redhead’s hand even before processing the words, and suddenly he felt himself floating. Drifting away into the night as Gaara reached forward and the door flew open, and so they flew in.


	5. Chapter 5

Gaara come closer

 

Lee watched with attention as Gaara unzipped his boots and peeled them off, rubbing his arms to try and keep all the warmth he could muster.

“What kind of tea do you want?” Gaara asked simply, walking over to a single cabinet filled with an extensive variety of teas. Lee followed the redhead with his eyes but made a confused expression,

“There’s more than one kind?” he asked as Gaara swung the cabinet door open.

“We have blueberry, raspberry, ginseng, sleepy time, green tea, green tea with lemon, green tea with lemon and honey, liver disaster, ginger with honey, ginger without honey, vanilla almond, white truffle, blueberry chamomile, vanilla walnut, English breakfast, and…. Earl Grey.” He finished, turning around to face Lee with questioning eyes. Lee stared back at him incredulously,

“Did you make some of those up?” Lee asked. Gaara ignored the comment and pulled out a small white and green box from the piles of tea, 

“Hmm, I think I’ll have sleepy time.” Gaara said, looking up to look at Lee briefly before moving towards the boiling kettle of water. Lee nodded,

“That sounds good to me!” he exclaimed. “It is always good and youthful to have warm beverages in this awful weather.” He said with a smile.

Gaara placed two large jugs of sleepy time tea on the table in front of Lee.

“So are your siblings living here too?” Lee asked suddenly. Gaara shook his head,

“No, I mean, they are right now, but they’re currently on a sort of ‘bonding road trip’ to Quebec or something…” Gaara explained. The redhead stopped when he noticed Lee was rubbing his arms in the chilliness of the kitchen. “Would like for me to provide you with a blanket?” 

“That would be awesome,” Lee said, a big smile on his face. Gaara nodded and left the room. 

Lee’s eyes followed the redhead until he was out of sight. Ten minutes later he was still sitting in the cold, staring at the sleepy time tea slowly cool down. He decided to check up on Gaara, maybe he needed help…? Lee slowly got up from the table, his limbs stiff from the cold, and made his way in the direction Gaara had taken. The moment he took a turn to the right, he gave a strangled gasp. Gaara was in his room and had slipped off his upper layers and was now topless and his jeans were unbuckled, showing a bit of his black boxer-shorts. 

“Lee, I’m changing,” Gaara stated, lifting his arms in a ‘really?’ manner. Lee gave another strangled mumble of sounds and quickly slapped his hands over his eyes, causing him to fall into complete darkness. 

“Ah! Sorry! I’m just cold…” Lee said quickly, trying to hide away the blush that crept onto his cheeks. There was a small silence when suddenly Lee felt something warm envelop him,

“Here… is that better…?” Gaara’s voice asked, deep and seducing. Lee shivered,

“That’s… very warm.” He said, still in his world of darkness behind his large hands. “… What is that?” he mumbled as he slowly pulled his hands away from his eyes and felt his heart stop. Gaara’s gorgeous face was inches away from his own, and it suddenly dawned on him what exactly was pressed up against his body and keeping him warm. 

“Oh…. Kay…” Lee said, his eyes wide as Gaara, who was now pressed up against him and with both arms around his waist, leaned in slowly, eyes never leaving Lee’s. Lee’s eyes slid closed as his brain pretty much melted and his heart stopped once again. Soft lips pressed against his in a soft kiss, which then turned into another, and then another. Lee let his hands fall on Gaara’s bare shoulders and slide down beautifully white arms as he felt kiss after kiss after kiss, soft and feathery, but so sensual he could feel his body burning up. Lee felt as if there were fireworks behind him, his emotions bursting into fire and his mind in utter joy. This was actually happening. 

The kiss ended sweetly, with Gaara’s ocean eyes staring at Lee from their dark halos. 

“So…” Lee began, “Were you just going to bring the blanket from your bed?” 

Gaara turned around to look at the bed behind them, 

“I guess,” he said softly.

“Maybe we should…” Lee began, “Both get under it… since we’re both so cold…” Gaara turned his head slowly, eyes catching Lee’s and holding them with something deep and beautiful. 

“What about our tea?” Gaara asked. Lee let his eyes wander, as if he was actually thinking about what to do with the now-probably-cold tea in the kitchen.

“I can… not have tea.” Lee said quickly. Gaara gave him a slight smile and before Lee knew it, he was being pulled towards the bed. Lips met his once more and Lee pressed himself against Gaara as much as he could, wanting to feel the soft skin beneath his fingers and taste those precious lips even more. Gaara’s hands moved from Lee’s hips upwards and underneath his shirt. Lee shivered but quickly reached up to grab his collar and pull the shirt above his head, feeling cold and exposed but very, very excited. He felt warm hands on his chest immediately as well as hot kisses along his neck. Lee let out a content sigh, allowing his left hand to travel up and thread through red hair, his other hand pulling Gaara’s bare chest against his own and shivering at the contact. Smooth hands traveled up and captured Lee’s face pulling him down into another kiss with a satisfied hum. 

This is happening, Lee thought, I am actually making out with the guy of my dreams, right now, here, in his house.

Lee thought he might just burst of happiness as he caressed every corner of Gaara’s back, neck, and hair. Lee didn’t really understand why they were still standing, but he did the moment he heard his belt unbuckle and zipper open. He shivered at the sensation of those smooth hands dipping into his pants on either side of his hips and pushing down with such strength that his pants pretty much dropped straight off him. 

Wow.

He was good. 

Lee hardly had time to process he was now in only his boxers and socks when he heard the sound of sliding fabric and noticed Gaara had also dropped his own pants to the floor. Lee’s face was probably the color of Gaara’s hair by now, but his eyes widened as he looked at Gaara’s beautiful legs, eyes slowly searching up until they hit that ONE spot.

This moment made Lee freeze. He had given the idea of him being gay quite a lot of thought. He realized that no matter how hard he tried to feel sexually attracted to a guy’s body, he simply couldn’t. It just wouldn’t get him hot or even make him think sexy things… it just wasn’t a turn on at all. But then he tried to think about Gaara and that… was a completely different story. But still, even then he never considered getting this far with the redhead (very less on their FIRST date… it wasn’t even SUPPOSED to be a date!). So for a second or two, he panicked over the fact that what if… in fact… he wouldn’t become aroused when he saw Gaara naked?

The panic left in the third second; just by looking at Gaara almost naked in front of him, a soft blush on his cheeks and his hands on Lee’s chest, those ocean eyes looking up at him expectantly, and a certain thing in his boxers really distracting him, he realized he had never felt so turned on in his life. 

Gaara noticed Lee’s eyes taking all of him in as a strong blush crept along the boy’s cheeks, and smiled, slowly walking past the older boy and around the bed. Lee’s eyes followed him the whole time. The redhead pulled the blankets open and sunk into his soft mattress, pulling off his socks in the process, and settled in the middle of the bed, looking at Lee expectantly.

“Aren’t you getting a bit cold standing there by yourself?” Gaara asked innocently. Lee almost tripped over himself as he rushed over, jumping on one foot as he quickly pulled his socks off as well, and dove straight into the mattress into the arms of a laughing Gaara. Gaara quickly brought his arms around Lee’s shoulders, holding the blanket in one of them, therefore covering them both up as their bodies intertwined and their lips met again. Their bodies somehow managed to press into each other in a comfortable way as their arms pulled their bodies closer than ever. Lee could feel Gaara’s arousal against his thigh as the redhead hooked a leg around Lee’s hips, therefore allowing Lee to pull up his leg and settled it in between Gaara’s thighs, pressing lightly against the incredibly warm spot right in between the redhead’s legs. Lee might have even considered moving his hips if he wasn’t so damn distracted by Gaara’s amazing lips. The kisses weren’t rough or fast; on the contrary. They were just as fluttery and loving as before. They were sensual in a way, but also slow, tasting each other with only their lips. Gaara’s lips were so soft Lee thought he could simply kiss them forever. He didn’t want to hurt them by being rough, he simply wanted to caress them with his own and cherish every second he could kiss them. His right hand was now cupping Gaara’s face and lightly combing through red locks of hair. Gaara’s own hands were massaging Lee’s scalp while Lee’s left hand was still hooked around Gaara’s waist, pulling them closely together. At times their mouths would stray slightly, kissing each other’s jaws or necks or nuzzling each other’s cheeks. 

They stayed like that, just kissing and sharing their warmth, full of caresses and feathery breaths. It was in the middle of this tender make-out session that Gaara slowly pulled away, eyes opening and staring at Lee with tender eyes. Lee’s eyes looked down at Gaara, full of admiration and affection. 

“I changed my mind,” Gaara said softly, his fingers tracing Lee’s cheekbone. 

“You changed it from what… to what?” Lee asked, expression confused. Gaara smiled,

“I don’t want to have sex with you, Rock Lee,” Gaara said simply, pulling out of Lee’s hold and settling next to him on his back, both of them looking up at the ceiling now. “Not right now.” 

Lee’s mind tried to register what had just happened as he opened the arm that was holding Gaara against him and simply settled with placing it underneath the redhead’s neck for support.

“Okay…” Lee agreed after a moment, not really knowing what to say. Gaara smiled at him,

“I won’t send you home in a snowstorm, you can sleep in my bed,” Gaara stated, “And I reserve the right to change my mind about the sex later.” He finished simply. Lee nodded before he turned and looked at Gaara, their eyes locking together,

“Well… this is nice… just this.” Lee said, his finger’s playing with Gaara’s red hair, feeling their smoothness. “It’s been like… a really long time, so… I think I needed THIS, whatever it is… so… thank you.” Lee finished. Gaara smiled at him and leaned over to press a soft and tender kiss to Lee’s cheek.

“You’re welcome,” he whispered, their eyes sliding closed as they cuddled together. Gaara reached out to turn off the light and settled back into Lee’s arm. They fell asleep holding each other, and Lee’s heart felt more content that ever.

…

The next morning, Lee was surprised when he walked out of the large house with Gaara and found himself standing in a very normal street and not in the middle of the air, like he thought he had last night. He followed Gaara down the pathway towards the street,

“So, Gaara… um, can this not be a one night stand…? For one thing I didn’t even get any…” he reminded the redhead. There was a small silence, “That was a joke.” Lee confirmed quickly as Gaara turned around to face him, his helmet in his hands and his black leather jacket on. 

“What did you have in mind?” Gaara asked simply. Lee thought quickly,

“Oh! You should come to the first round of the Battle of the Bands thing!” he said quickly. Gaara gave him an amused look.

“You have a band?” he asked, his expression pretty much saying ‘you’re kidding, right?’,

“Yeah,” Lee said with a smile, “We’re terrible, please come?” he pleaded. Gaara realized it wasn’t a joke a sighed,

“Sure,” he said, and with that he pushed off into the street and started rollerblading away. 

“Oh, wait!” Lee called after him, “Can I have your number?”

Gaara was back in less than a second, halting in front of Lee with such speed that a wave of snow flew of the ground. He placed a small paper in Lee’s hands. 

“Wow,” Lee said, smiling down at the paper. It said Gaara Sand in a nice handwriting followed by a set of numbers and seven small ‘x’ underneath it all. “Gaara’s number…” he whispered as Gaara turned around and rollerbladed away once more, the heat created by the strength of his strides so hot that the snow melted around him every time he glided forward. 

“See you at the show, Rock Lee.” Gaara called over his shoulder.

“Oh, hey, it’s tonight!” Lee yelled, “At the Rockit!”


	6. Chapter 6

Gaara casually strolled into the Rockit at around 7:55 that evening, wearing a red hoodie with a white stripe across it and his normal black combat boots and pants, along with his normal strap-across bag. He took in the place, it was dimly lit and there weren’t too many people, so that meant   
Gaara really liked the place.

“Hey!” Lee called from across the room, catching the redhead’s attention, “You totally came!” 

“Yes,” Gaara said, walking towards the excited bass player, “I did totally come,” Gaara stopped about two feet away from Lee, who was just staring at him with dreamy eyes, and gave him a confused expression. 

“Ejem,” a voice called, making Gaara turn to face a short girl with raven hair the color of Lee’s own. “Please excuse my brother,” she said politely, “he is chronically an idiot, and stupid.” Gaara noted this must be Lee’s younger-but-acting-older sister.

“Ok,” Gaara said simply.

“This is Kiba, his roommate,” Shizune explained, motioning towards Kiba who was sitting in the bar behind her,

“Hey,” Kiba said with a quick wave,

“This is my boyfriend Shino,” Shizune motioned towards the boy to her left, a tall guy with kind of dark glasses and spiky brown hair who smiled politely.

“Hey…” Kiba said with a seductive tone, catching Shino’s attention briefly, the tall boy looking confused.

“Oh, and this is Ino!” Shizune finished.

“Hey!” Ino’s voice pierced straight through Lee’s mind so fast he felt like something broke in his head. Ino was wearing a big purple coat and black leggings as she ran over to Lee,

“Hey!” Lee said, out of pure instinct, his eyes widening as the young girl ran towards him. It was all too fast, one moment he had been staring at Gaara with dreamy eyes, and the next thing he knew Ino was wrapping her arm around him and jumping up to smack her lips against his in a sudden and brief kiss. Lee’s heart stopped so fast his eyes kept open throughout the whole thing, looking at Gaara as if terrified of what the redhead was seeing. Gaara simply raised his eyebrows, looking confused yet amused as he looked between the blonde seventeen year old and Lee. Standing behind Ino there were two girls, one of them with pink hair and the second with a striking resemblance to Neji and Lee recognized her as Hinata, Lee’s cousin. She was holding hands with a blonde boy with spiky hair and bright blue eyes.

“So…” Ino said, motioning towards her newly cut hair. “Do you like?” she asked, eyes happier than ever. 

“I… uh…” Lee said, looking away from Gaara to look at Ino, his expression frozen in his surprised smile. A thick silence passed between them and something clicked.

Ino turned to look at Gaara, who had turned to stare directly at Lee. Shizune and the pink haired girl with green eyes looked between both Ino and Gaara and then straight at Lee, their eyes burning in judgement. And behind all of this, Shino had caught Kiba staring at him from the corner of his eyes and quickly looked away, nervous as the brunette winked at him. The Neji-clone cousin and the blonde seemed too infatuated with each other to notice the drama going on.

“I…” Lee tried again.

Lee felt as the world slowed down, suddenly realizing everyone was staring at him, Ino and Gaara with confused looks, and everyone else with harsh and judgmental ones, especially his sister. She was going to destroy him.

“… have… to… go.” Lee finished, turning around quickly and speed walking towards the backstage, turning it into a sprint in the last second. The people on stage finished testing for sound and the first band walked on.

“This band is from Branton, and they are… Pain and the Boys.” The announcer said, his voice monotone.

When Lee arrived to the backstage, he found Neji nervously looking through the biographies of each member of Pain and the Boys. He looked incredibly distressed.

“This is a nightmare.” Neji hissed, eyes worried when he looked at Lee, “Is this a nightmare? Wake up, wake up, wake up…” he started whispering to himself as he started pacing around the room.

“Once we’re on stage you’ll be fine.” Tenten answered. “You always are.”

“We were just on stage for sound check and the sound guy hated us.” Neji stated coldly. Lee banged one of his hands against the door he was standing by,

“It’s just nerves, pre-show jitters.” He said seriously, walking towards the side of the stage visible from the backstage. “People love us, right?” he called back.

“Oh god…” Neji sighed, “This is bad…”

Lee couldn’t hear him, staring up towards the higher balcony of the Rockit where Gaara was settling into his seat in between Shizune and Ino. 

Meanwhile in the balcony…

“Hey Shino,” Kiba asked the taller boy, his tone casual, “So do they rock, or do they suck?” he said, motioning towards Pain and the Boys who were setting up on stage. Shino looked towards the stage,

“They… have not started playing yet…” Shino stated simply. 

“That was a test, Shino,” Kiba said with a small smile, patting the tall boy on the shoulder and then pointing at him, “And you passed.” 

Shino nodded a bit nervously, quickly adverting his eyes towards the stage again.

“Ok…” he answered awkwardly. 

There was a small swell of a microphone and a guy with ridiculous piercings and bright orange hair took the microphone, completely dressed in black.

“My name is Pain, and these are the boys…” Pain said simply. Kiba noticed something before cupping a hand around his mouth and yelling,

“Is that girl at the drums a boy too?” Pain grabbed the microphone again,

“Yes,” he growled. The little girl in the back had the same color of Pain’s hair and two pony tails that stuck up into the air, a small blush on her cheeks but her eyes furious as she flipped Kiba the bird.

Tenten was standing in the backstage, looking at the little girl from the sidelines,

“They have a girl drummer.” She growled, eyes wide in anger. Pain approached the microphone once more,

“This song is called I Feel Like Killing, I Feel Like Killing So Much… and it goes a little something like this.” He said. The little girl began a heavy drum beat and suddenly the band exploded into sound,

“I FEEEEEEEEEEL LIKE KILLING!!!!!” Pain screamed. Suddenly, after five seconds of harsh sound, the song ended abruptly.

“Thank you,” Pain said into the microphone.

“Not a race, guys!” Kiba yelled once more. Pain immediately stepped forward again,

“Ok this song goes out to the guy who keeps on yelling from the balcony.” Pain hissed, Kiba pointing to himself in fake innocence and question. “It’s called, We Hate You, Please Die.” 

“Sweet!” Kiba said, “Love this one,” he stated as he placed his warm hand on Shino’s arm.

The song started with a slow intro with single beats from the drum and the bass, when suddenly the drummer picked up the pace and the bass player began a sick introduction which was quickly followed by a strong guitar and Pain’s voice ripped through the Rockit.  
Neji’s hands went to face in stress,

“How are we supposed to follow that!?” he hissed, pacing once more. Tenten simply stared straight at the girl drummer and Lee was staring up at Gaara and Ino, his heart pounding in his chest in stress. “We aren’t going to win.” Neji yelled, his voice un-hearable over the wall of sound. “We aren’t going to sign with K-Man, we’ll never play opening night at the Chaos Theater.” He immediately turned towards Lee, “God damn it Lee will please stop just standing there? You’re freaking me out!” He finished, the veins in his forehead popping out by now. At that the moment the song ended,

“Thank you,” Pain said once more. At that moment, Shizune reached over and tapped Gaara on the shoulder.

“So,” Shizune said, “How do you know Lee?” Gaara thought briefly of his answer,

“He’s a friend.” Gaara said with a nod. Shizune nodded,

“It’s hard for me to keep track sometimes because, he has so many friends.” She said with a smile. Gaara gave her an inquisitive look, “How about you, Ino?” 

Both of them turned to see Ino, who looked up at them innocently. 

“Uh, how did you meet Lee?” Shizune asked. Ino’s face brightened up,

“Oh, well…” She began with a smile.

Meanwhile in the backstage…

Lee’s eyes almost popped out as he realized the girls and Gaara were talking… and something told him they were talking about him.

Oh no… he thought. This IS a nightmare!

Lee’s first idea was to run on stage and play so loud both of them would forever forget their conversation and listen to him instead. But then he realized Neji was in pre-stage mode and was probably going to take forever to set up and make sure everything was perfect before playing.

After this revelation he realized he probably would have to run away and hide forever. But then he saw it.

He looked up and saw that the pink haired girl with green eyes was dreamily looking at a boy with black hair standing in a corner of the main floor of the Rockit, and right next to her he could see Hinata and the blonde boy sitting in the back of the balcony, giggling and exchanging a few soft kisses with their young teenage embarrassment, their hands intertwined and blushes on their cheeks as they looked at each other with fond eyes.

Bingo.

He whirled around and slapped a panicking Neji across the face.

“Hinata is here and she’s making out with a blonde boy and if we don’t play NOW and play LOUD he might get to second base with her!” he yelled in Neji’s face. The lead singer of the band froze and his eyes seemed to go through a long set of emotions before they settled into angry and determined.

“That damned Naruto… Over my DEAD BODY. Let’s WRECK THIS PLACE!” He yelled.

“Yeah!” Lee, Tenten, and Sai yelled. 

Meanwhile in the balcony…

“So, I was on the bus, with my mom, and…” Ino began, but suddenly her eyes strayed and landed on the stage. Gaara and Shizune stared at her expectantly,

“Really,” Gaara asked, “Is that seriously the end of the story?”

They didn’t get an answer because next thing they knew Ino was up and jumping,

“Oh my GOSH!” Ino yelled, “They’re ON!” 

“This next band is from Toronto.” The announcer said, “And uh… yeah. Give it up for, Team Youth Guy.”

“OH MY GOD, I LOVE YOU TEAM YOUTH GUY!” Ino yelled in her Team Youth Guy t-shirt before giving out a loud screech. Lee felt mortified. Neji turned to look at Lee,

“You ready?” he asked, eyes determined. Lee nodded. “Ok, Tenten? Are you…?”

“WE ARE TEAM YOUTH GUY,” Tenten interrupted him, “ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR!” 

The band started with a strong and steady rhythm supported by the bass and the guitar and Neji’s gorgeous voice echoed through the hall, making all the girls there melt.

Lee didn’t even notice when Ino fainted into the pink-haired girl’s arms, nearly knocking them both onto the ground. Neji’s eyes were straight on the blonde boy and Hinata, making them stop their little lovey-dovey session and probably feel really self-conscious under Neji’s killer glare. Pink hair girl was fanning Ino in her arms, looking worried for her friend.

Behind all this, Young Sai was nodding his head and singing along to the lyrics in the backstage, right next to the drummer from the last group that was staring at Tenten with the same intensity the Tenten had been staring at her. Neji continued to sing,

“You know you wanna ride

On my garbage truck”

Lee moved to the microphone and harmonized with Lee, his eyes on Gaara who was smiling at him, nodding his head to the song.

“truck truck truck”

Pain was glaring at Lee with eyes of hate along with his lead guitarist from the sidelines. And as all this was happening, Kiba looked at Shino with yet another suggestive look, which Shino met nervously, still confused until Shizune’s hand on his back made his straighten up and look at the stage once more. 

Lee felt in his zone. He was playing the bass, feeling the familiar support of Tenten’s rhythm and Neji’s voice which he harmonized to. It was all going so well, his eyes locking with Gaara’s every few seconds, the song pushing forward with strong rhythm and feeling, he loved it.

“I’ll be your garbage man

I’ll take out your junk

And crush it…”

Neji didn’t have a chance to finish the phrase before a sudden explosion cut off their song, making all three of the band members stop and look up.

A figure burst through the ceiling,

“Rock Lee!” a female voice screeched before a figure landed right in front of Lee with a strong boom. Lee could only stare as he took in the girl before him. Bright red-pink hair with matching eyes, oval glasses on a thin and angular face. She was wearing a lilac colored shirt with a black jacket and shorts along with tall black boots. 

“It is I!” she yelled, pulling her hand into the air and whipping her hair out of her face with style, “Karin Patel!” she pulled down into an aggressive stance. “Consider our fight… begun!” 

With that, Karin jumped into the air and prepared for a flying punch.

“What did I do?” Lee asked, watching in slow motion as the girl pulled her arm back, preparing for impact, “What DO I do?!”

In the silence of the whole place, only one voice echoed as Kiba leaned over the balcony and yelled,

“FIGHT!”

Something burned inside of Lee and he unplugged his bass, thick eyebrows furring together, as he pulled his bass of and threw it blindly at Young Sai who caught it with wide eyes of admiration. Lee pulled his fighting stance out, the palm of his right hand facing upwards as he bent his knees and prepared.

Karin swung her punch and Lee countered it with his forearm, quickly turning his body to swing a punch of his own that hit the girl square in the face, making her flip downwards and into the floor. 

Everyone’s jaws dropped (including Gaara). Tenten, Neji, and Sai simply nodded knowingly; it took a lot to bring down Rock Lee in a fight. But Karin landed perfectly on her feet after a sudden twist of her body.

“Alright,” she growled, slowly standing up to her full height, “All… right…” 

“Hey look!” Kiba yelled, catching Lee’s attention or a second, “It’s that ONE girl.” He teased. Karin growled loudly and ran towards Lee again, jumping towards him as she tried to land yet another punch, but Lee twisted his body quickly and dodged the punch, instead landing a strong kick straight into Karin’s chest. The girl once again was propelled backwards and flew through the air, but Lee ran forward and gave her a direct upper cut followed by various direct punches to the face, all of them feeding his strength and want to battle until he finished her off with a final blow to the face, therefore shooting her body into the floor beneath them. 

Everyone in the crowd made space for Karin to fall flat on her face on the ground, but she immediately looked up and jumped to her feet just as Lee landed in front of her.

The battle was on.

Karin started chuckling as they began to circle each other.

“Well, well, well… You’re quite the opponent… Rock Lee.” She hissed. 

“Who the hell are you, anyway?” Lee growled. Karin’s expression turned dark,

“My name… is Karin Patel!” she made the same punching pose as before, “And I am Gaara’s FIRST, EVIL, EX, GIRLFRIEND!” she finished. She growled at him audibly like an angry dog. 

“His what?” Lee asked, turning around to look up at Gaara.

Everyone’s eyes turned towards the redhead, who looked towards the floor in embarrassment. He quickly looked up at Shizune, Shino, and Kiba who were staring at her.

“… Anyone want another drink?” he offered weakly.

Karin growled once more and ran towards Lee, both of them throwing and blocking punches and kicks in every direction, trying to sweep each other off their feet and bending in strange directions to avoid blows. Suddenly Lee blocked a particularly nasty kick and yelled,

“Wait! We’re fighting over Gaara?” 

Karin stopped, her eyes confused for a moment. 

“Didn’t you get my email explaining the situation?” she asked, actually looking concerned. Lee’s eyes adverted Karin’s,

“I… skimmed it…” he lied obviously. Kiba shook his head and gave a disapproving (mm-mm). Karin’s eyes turned deadly angry,

“You will pay for your INSOLENCE!” she screamed, and so she ran forward and began fighting Lee with even more feistiness than before. Lee was so taken by surprise he barely managed to dodge and attack Karin before he left an opening that she immediately took, punching him square in the face twice before jumping and landing a kick on his chest. Lee fell back into the hands of someone in the crowd before being pushed back into the fight.

“Hey!” Kiba yelled, catching their attention, “What’s up with her outfit?” 

“Yeah,” Hinata’s blonde boyfriend yelled from the other side of the balcony, “She looks like some kind of biker chick.” Lee looked at Karin curiously,

“Are you a biker?” he asked with amusement. Karin smiled at him, an evil glint in her eyes,

“Of course I am. In fact, I’m from the best biking gang around. I was happy when I heard that this fight would take place in Toronto, it gives me a chance to say hi to one of my other exes from my gang.” Karin answered, turning suddenly to look at the boy that pink-haired girl had been staring at. The boy looked mortified to see her,

“Hey Sasuke,” she said as she winked and blew him a kiss, “Once I finish off this dork I’ll go back to trying to get you back.” 

“HEY! HANDS OFF YOU WEIRDO!” The pink-haired girl yelled from the balcony, forgetting about the unconscious Ino for a second.

“SHUT YOUR TRAP SAKURA!” Karin yelled as she turned to look at Lee once more, “I’LL KILL YOU AFTER I FINISH THIS GUY UP!”

Karin screamed as she attacked Lee once more. The flurry of punches and kicks continued until Lee managed to get the upper hand and catch Karin into an arm lock, holding her into place. He looked up at Gaara,

“You seriously went out with this chick?!” Lee asked. Suddenly everyone’s attention shifted to Gaara, even the stage lights man shifted the spotlight so it would land on the redhead.

“Yeah…” he answered, standing up and moving towards the edge of the balcony, Lee could now see he was wearing a bright turquoise t-shirt underneath the hoodie. “In the seventh grade.” He added. Karin and Lee looked up at him expectantly,

“And?” Lee asked again. Gaara sighed, crossing his arms over his chest,

“It was prom season and for some reason, all the little sissy girls wanted me…” he began, “Karin was the only non sissy and actually hardcore girl in town. So the two of us joined forces and took them all down.” He continued, “They all ran away, but then the jocks who hated me showed up to defend the girls they liked and Karin and I fought for hours. Nothing could beat Karin’s mystical powers. We only kissed once.” Gaara finished, “After a week and a half, I told her to hit the road.”

“Woah, wait,” Lee said quickly, “Mystical powers?”

Lee didn’t get an answer, because suddenly Karen exploded into a roar and ripped away from Lee’s grip, pointing at Gaara with fire burning in her eyes.

“You will pay for this, Sand!” She growled. She turned and looked at Lee, blue fire literally burning in her eyes before placed her hands together and began summoning something. Lee’s eyes widened as the fire spread through her arms and then burst to her sides, strong men appearing within the fire and staring at him with devilish eyes.

“She’s summoning demons?” Shizune asked incredulously.

“I’ll get you now, Lee, you can’t run from my fireballs!” Karin growled as she slowly started floating into the air, the fire coming alive around her, “My chakra is too strong for you!” 

Suddenly one of the demons ripped through the air and Lee jumped back just in time before the creature landed in front of him and exploded into blue flames, causing him to propel backwards and land on the stage.

“Explosive blue hot demon men?” Kiba asked, eyes wide with excitement, “I have a new kink.”

“This chick is good,” Neji hissed, backing away with one arm around Tenten, pulling her away from her beloved drum set and protecting Young Sai behind him as well. Karin screeched and suddenly the rest of the demons lunged forward and began landing around Lee, making explosions near him. One of them got kicked to the side by Lee and landed directly on top of Pain and the Boys, causing them to burst into flames and turn to ashes. Neji’s eyes widened in horror.

Lee dodged a few more hits before his eyes landed on the cymbal disk from Tenten’s drum set. He lunged forward and snatched it from the ground before whirling it towards Karin at full speed.

It hit her straight in the forehead

Karin gasped as the fire around her disappeared and she floated back because of the impact. Her eyes wide,

“No… it can’t be…” she murmured.

“Yes it can!” Lee roared, jumping into the air and finishing her off with a final punch.

Lee had no idea what happened next, but Karin fell to the ground and started squirming in pain.

“Ah! No! I can’t fail! AAAAAGGHHH!! GAARA! SASUKE! CALL ME!!!!” she yelled finally, her voice piercing the air before she disappeared in a puff of smoke, a couple of coins falling on the floor where she had previously been.

Lee landed right in front of the few coins,

“Sweet! Coins for the bus!” Lee said quickly, disregarding the whole situation.

The whole place started buzzing with conversation again, as if nothing had happened.

Gaara and Shizune still stared at what had just happened.

“Well,” Gaara started, turning to look at Shizune, “It was nice meeting you, tell your… gay friends I said bye.” He said quickly before quickly leaving his seat with his hoodie and bag in hand, heading straight for the stairs. 

“Gay friends?” she asked, before turning to her right and growling. 

“KIBA!” She yelled as her eyes landed on Kiba making out furiously with Shino, both of them a mess of tangled limbs, “NOT AGAIN!” 

Behind them, Hinata and Naruto were quickly trying to quietly sneak out of the club before Neji found them. They thought they had made it as they reached the back door, but only gasped in horror when they swung the door open to see Neji standing right in front of them, staring down on them so strongly he looked like he was going to explode. Hinata threw herself at her cousin, holding him in place, and Naruto made a run for it, eyes wide in fear as he burst through the crowd and then the front door. Sakura watched helplessly as Sasuke left the place, looking a bit pale after the encounter, and she wished she could run after him, but she knew she had to take care of her still passed out friend.  
Lee finished getting all the coins he could find before standing up and counting them.

“Aw man, 2.40? That’s not even enough for the bus home!” He exclaimed.

“I’ll lend you the 35 cents.” Gaara said as he swiftly waked by Lee and took hold of his hand, pulling him along. 

“Lee?!” Neji called, standing on stage with Tenten and a shell shocked Sai who was still holding onto Lee’s bass for dear life. Hinata was sitting in the backstage and waiting for a thorough scolding from Neji, but the older cousin had to go see the results for the battle first.

“Yeah so…” The announcer began, “Team Youth Guy wins…” a few claps and cheers followed from the few people who were still there as Neji raised his fist in victory. At that second, Ino’s eyes fluttered open and Sakura pulled her to her feet.

“Team Youth Guy won?” she managed to mumble, taking support on the table near her, her eyes shot open. “Woooohooo!” She yelled over the balcony. But the whole band had left by that time.

…

Lee sat next to Gaara on the bus, their thighs touching as well as their shoulders, their eyes looking forward and lost in the distance.

“So… what was all that all about?” Lee asked.

“Um…” Gaara said, “I guess… If we’re going to date, you may have to defeat my seven evil exes.” Gaara said simply, his eyes meeting with Lee’s own. 

“You have seven evil ex-girlfriends?” Lee asked, surprised.

“… Seven evil exes… yes,” he said simply. Lee looked down at his hands,

“And I have to fight…”

“Defeat,” Gaara corrected,

“Defeat… your seven evil exes if we are going to… continue to date?” Lee said hesitantly, a small smile in voice,

“Pretty much,” Gaara confirmed. 

“So what you’re saying… right now is… we are… dating?” Lee slowly answered, his eyes wide with hope. Gaara adverted his eyes for a moment, thinking about it,

“Uh… I guess?” he answered. Lee’s smile widened,

“Does that mean we can make out?” he asked. Gaara looked at Lee, amusement in his eyes until a small smile appeared on his lips,

“Sure,” he answered. 

“Cool,” Lee said, before they closed the small space between them and kissed.


End file.
